The Annual Members Meeting (AMM) 2024 of Bampton Valley Community Pub (BVCP) was held on Thursday 15th August in Bampton Memorial Hall and online on Microsoft Teams.

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The Final Accounts, reports from our Chair, Secretary and Treasurer as well as draft Minutes noted are available below.

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For those who don’t have the time to read the full reports, the key highlights that we’d like to share with all Members are as follows:

 

• Our turnover (exclusive of VAT) in the reporting period of 1st September 2022 to 29th February 2024 just exceeded £600,000, our recorded profits were negligible and given allowances for the investment we made, we were not liable for Corporation Tax

• The turnover at £600,000 was unusually high due to (1) running an extended 18 month operating period and (2) because our accountants were able to record the grant monies of approximately £101,000 received and spent in the period as turnover

• We have now switched annual reporting periods to the end of February to mitigate some of the seasonal challenges of a Cumbrian hospitality business

• Our forecast operating turnover for the current financial year (March 2024 to end February 2025) which will be our first 12 month reporting period offering the full complement of food, drink and accommodation, is just over £430,000

• We have always believed that a strong colleague team motivated to deliver a positive customer experience is key to our reputation and long term financial health - which is why we pay according to the standards of the Real Living Wage foundation and we aim to consistently employ during the financially challenging Winter months

• We issue email customer surveys to all room and food guests and receive a consistently high response rate of nearly 30%. These get shared immediately with our Head Chef, Bar Manager, Housekeeping Manager and all Management Committee members

• We aim to learn continually and make improvements as specific issues or commonly voiced themes demand. Members are invariably our most critical customers on this private survey channel - we encourage it as we know you do it for the right reasons! 

• In October 2023 we introduced the Mardale Inn Loyalty Card which has enabled all BVCP Members and over one hundred ‘loyal locals’ to enjoy a community benefit as during its first nine months of operation over £9,300 was saved on food and drink purchases (an effective 10% discount)

• We spoke at some length about BVCP supporting the new format of Bampton Valley Stores, which is an informal partnership between your Community Benefit Society, Askham Stores and Bampton Trust, and is staffed by local volunteers generously giving of their time for free

• BVCP costs which may be directly attributed to supporting the Stores are nearly £3,000 per annum but, along with the cross promotion we make from the pub to the Stores about the locally sourced products we use, we regard this as another important community benefit we can deliver which aligns well with our purpose

• Our major period of grant supported investment in the pub is now past but your committee believes that ongoing investment in the pub will always be important to make it more appealing to customers, easier for colleagues to work in and cheaper to operate: a number of important projects are currently in motion and will be reported on as they complete in Member updates

• We anticipate that Winter 2024 trading will, similar to Winter 2023, be challenging but as a community pub, we recognise a core responsibility to be open and available to the Valley population during dark and cold days with warm facilities and interesting events

• New risks to our business may emerge but we are optimistic that, alongside the continued investments we plan to make in infrastructure, colleagues and our community, we should be able to consider a small dividend to Members in early 2025 which will be voted on at the next AMM

• At the meeting, we thanked Wendy Frith, as a retiring member of the Management Committee, for her enthusiasm, experience and practical ideas as having been invaluable to us in the set up of The Mardale

• Through rotation, the AMM attendees re-elected Ken Jones, Patrick Lacey and Dave Rogers to the Committee for another term; we were delighted to welcome Ray Bruin and Petra Russell to the Committee

• We confirmed that since the last AMM, your Society continues to operate according to the our Model Rules version 5 which were approved by the Financial Conduct Authority on set up; no breaches of these rules were recorded in the period 

• It was shared that our accountants, Allen Sykes, have reviewed the revenue account and balance sheet for the period ended 29th February 2024 and stated that they are in agreement with the books of account kept by the society under section 75 of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014

• A vote was held and passed that, as a Community Benefit Society with assets less than £5.1M and a turnover of less than £10.2M, we will not undertake a full annual audit as we are not legally required to do so

• A number of questions were raised in the Hall and online covering topics such as car parking, profitability on our different lines of business, the importance of feedback forms, the sustainability of the business without volunteer support, and options with respect to receiving future dividends; the answers shared are captured in the draft minutes online

• Finally, thanks were expressed to our Shareholder Members, our Funders, our Colleagues, our many Volunteers such as our weekly flower ladies and shop staff, Plunkett Foundation, our Commercial Partners, our Committee Members and our Customers for their support of Bampton Valley Community Pub, The Mardale Inn and more recently, Bampton Valley Stores​​​​